By: Wade Denniston, USU Athletic Media Relations
LOGAN, Utah – Junior guard
Sam Merrill scored 19 points, senior forward Quin Taylor added 13 points and 11 rebounds, and Utah State earned its first win over San Diego State since joining the Mountain West, 70-54 in front of 8,160 fans Tuesday night at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum.
Junior guard
Diogo Brito and redshirt freshman forward
Justin Bean added 12 and 10 points, respectively, off the bench for the Aggies (23-6, 13-3 Mountain West), who won for the 12th time in their last 13 tries, including five straight.
Utah State moved into a tie for first place with No. 12 Nevada (25-2, 12-2 MW), which was idle on Tuesday, but hosts UNLV on Wednesday night at the Lawlor Events Center in Reno. The Aggies and Wolf Pack square off this Saturday in the Spectrum, at 6:30 p.m. The game, which is sold out, will be televised live on the CBS Sports Network.
With Tuesday's win over SDSU,
Craig Smith took over the top spot all alone for most victories by a first-year head coach at Utah State at 23.
Jordan Schakel scored 15 points off the bench to lead the Aztecs (18-11, 10-6 MW), who had their season-long five-game winning streak snapped. Matt Mitchell added 12 points, while Nathan Mensah grabbed eight rebounds.
Utah State struggled shooting the ball from the outside, making just 4 of its 21 shots from beyond the arc (19.0 percent), but more than made up for it in the paint.
The Aggies enjoyed a 46-20 advantage in points in the paint and of their 27 made field goals, 22 were either layups or dunks, including 10 out of 12 in the first half along. Utah State finished the night shooting 42.9 percent (27-of-63) from the field.
USU also owned the glass, outrebounding SDSU 44-30, led by Taylor's 11 boards. Sophomore guard
Abel Porter pulled down a career-high 10 rebounds, to go along with a game-best five assists, while Bean matched his career high with eight rebounds.
Bean was the spark plug the Aggies needed in the second half, especially after freshman center
Neemias Queta picked up three fouls during the first 20 minutes of play, and his fourth with 12:10 to go in the game. Bean scored all 10 of his points and grabbed five of his eight rebounds following halftime.
Utah State, which snapped an 11-game losing streak to SDSU, led 31-21 at the break and pushed that lead out to as many as 21 with 3:26 remaining after Porter hit a 3-pointer.
The Aztecs scored the first four points of the game on a 3-pointer by Mitchell and a foul shot by Devin Watson. However, the Aggies used a 10-2 run to move in front for good. Merrill and Taylor combined for eight points during that stretch.
Queta finished with nine points, three rebounds and two blocks, and now has 72 blocks on the season, the most by a freshman in single-season school history.
SDSU shot 35.2 percent from the field (19-of-54), including 46.7 percent from beyond the arc (7-of-15), and 60.0 percent from the free throw line (9-of-15).
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